Revolution in Routine: Make a Difference With Your Daily Activities

Another day, another opportunity to make a difference in the world! Don’t worry, making a difference doesn’t necessarily mean you have to pack your bags and dedicate your life to a particular service project! Small adjustments to your everyday routine can be a big help to a charity. Check out a few ways you can make difference with your daily activities!

Your Daily Crossword

Enjoy a crossword puzzle with your breakfast to wake you up for your day’s activities and improve your vocabulary? Why not add a side of heroism with that coffee and bagel of yours?Free Rice is a nonprofit organization whose goals are to end world hunger and provide free education to all. The website allows you to donate rice to the millions of hungry people around the world with a multiple choice word game. For every word you define correctly, you donate 10 grains of rice (there are also games in subjects outside of language, such as humanities, geography, science, and math!). Take a break from the crossword, play Free Rice, and share your breakfast with the world!

Time For A Haircut

Are your locks getting too long? Perhaps you have to work a haircut into your schedule? If you plan to chop off more than 8 inches of hair, consider donating it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths or Locks of Love.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths with partner HairUWear® uses donated hair to create high-quality wigs for women who have lost their hair while battling cancer. Locks of Love will also use the donated hair for wigs, but for “financially disadvantaged children, age 21 and under, suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.”

Quality Time With Your Puppy

Are you an animal lover? Want a pet in your life to love and help grow to be devoted, intelligent, and just as affectionate to others as you are to him/her? Organizations like The Seeing Eye and Guide Dogs for the Blind are always seeking volunteers to raise puppies to be just that, and able to act as guide/service dogs for the blind and visually impaired. These organizations look for individuals that intend to give puppies (who range from ages 7-9 weeks old) the attention and guidance they need to become guide/service dogs.

Numerous universities now have clubs that allow students to become puppy-raisers. Some of these universities even allow students to bring their puppies back to their dorms to live with them! If you love playing with puppies, have the drive to nurture, teach, and give them a lot of attention, adopt a service puppy!

Cleaning Your Room

Is it time for a clean-up? Whether your room just needs a quick tidy up or a map and shovel to navigate through, there’s no doubt you can find a few items that you haven’t used in years and don’t need anymore. Old books, furniture and clothes may create that clutter that you so desperately need to limit in order to have a healthy living space. The Salvation Army and Goodwillare there to help- collecting various items and selling them for the greater good (of both your room and those in need). The Salvation Army will collect and sell items to fund its Adult Rehabilitation Centers while Goodwillcollects and sells to fund programs and services for those with disabilities and/or are experiencing difficulties in entering the job market.

Some of your closet and drawer space can serve as a resting place for old clothing items. You might find business attire that you don’t wear anymore- a pencil skirt that doesn’t fit you or a blazer that just isn’t your style anymore. Donate those clothing items to organizations like Dress For Successthat will take your used business attire and distribute them to women in need who are trying to enter the workforce.

Also, believe it or not, there’s life after puberty for your old, gently-used bras. Free The Girls is a non-profit organization that will collect the bras that sit in the back of your underwear drawer and use them to provide a new life for sex-trafficking survivors! The organization helps survivors by providing a safe-house, as well as the opportunity to make an income above minimum wage, build confidence and connect with other women by selling the gently used bras.

Meals with Friends and/or Family

Feel like going out for a meal? Your daily eating habits can also prove charitable! Some restaurants will donate their proceeds to a particular cause. For example, all profits from the food sold at Darbster (located in West Palm Beach, FL) go to the Darbster Foundation, which has provided TNR (trap-neuter-return) for over 400 cats (as well as other animal care within the area) in 2012.

All of the above activities could already be a part of your daily routine. What you do throughout your day (big or small) can make a huge impact in somebody else’s life- so go out to eat with your friends, clean your room, and change the world with your daily routine!

Featured Writers

Kali O'RourkeKali usually ends up watching movies and TV shows when she should be writing, which means she can and will beat you at any pop culture trivia game. When not found reading or wishing it was Halloween, she dreams about one day creating a TV show that ruins people’s lives (in a good way).

Mallory WalkerI spend too much time reading and watching TV. The phrase "What is the meaning of this?!" always cracks me up. Puppies, Diet Coke and the '90s make me happy. I mean really, who doesn't love the days of Marky Mark?